The Midweekly is our column from Mike Jeffers; lead singer of Chicago punk stalwarts SCRAM, music junkie and all around righteous dude.
For late era gen x’ers coming into their teen years, looking for a new take on rock music, it was easy to miss out some hidden gems in that alternative movement of the 90s. Maybe you heard their name in passing as an opener for a bigger band, or maybe caught their video briefly on one of those late Sunday night MTV shows. Then 30 years later you hear Archers of Loaf, and damn. The original lineup of these North Carolinians have put out their first record in 24 years. There’s maturity in their sound now, uplifting tunes and somber piano, but still holding onto that youthful post-punk noise of their peak as well. Thoughtful crooning and clever lyrics on the state of society, and the emotions we go through navigating all life’s problems. Never too late to find a cool artist that could’ve inspired your youth, and hopefully they get the band back together to inspire your present.
Week Starter is our Monday column where we give you a new song to help you get on out of bed & help you power on through the working week.
Well if you need to know how our week is going let us start by pointing out we’re posting our “get your week started” post at the end of Monday. Yeesh, looks like this one is going to be a tough one. Lucky for us and you we have “The Weather” by Split Parasite to help us through. Melodic and mathy, its a tasty slice of Midwest emo influenced alternative that is both fresh and catchy while still harkening back to classic genre tightrope walkers of the 90’s and aughts. There’s the essence of Braid and Minus the Bear here without actually sounding like either one of those bands. Today was rough but a jam like this gives us hope just because of how good it is.
Thursdays with J.R. is our new weekly column from lifelong musician and lifelong-er music fan J.R. McIntire, drummer of Arctic Char and multi-instrumentalist on more projects than we have bandwidth to list.
Today’s song teaches us about space. The room awareness of “Nobody Cares (You’re Sitting at Home) by Moonglow is uncanny. The song starts with dry yet brash drums and in your face vocals repeatedly singing “You’re sitting at home, and nobody cares about you”. You feel like you’re sitting in the room with the band, at home I suppose. There is a nice drum break with what sounds like a keyboard adding tiny bird like sounds. There are choir-esque backup vocals in the first verse, they are washed with so many filters and a bucket full of reverb where they are almost unrecognizable as vocals. Despite all of the effects they work in the mix really well. The song decrescendos with the bird like sounds again and the vocalist repeating “nobody cares about you” until we fade out completely. The song is smooth and simple yet has some heavy lyrics that are stated quite frequently. The words gently flow from the vocalists mouth like he is jaded by years of being out of the house and uncared for. You can imagine him telling the song like a story over a cigarette. The drums and keyboard are simple as well but important to the melody and rhythm. I liked the song, it was over before I knew it but you can always listen again….
Hey, Halloween is only 10 days away and if you’ve not already eaten all the candy you bought for the occasion and need to go buy more well than you’re just not doing the season right. Need some music to get you in the mood for your candy run and the big day in general? Check out “Spooky” by James E. Gray. Pulling off the trick of sounding like Muse getting in the holiday spirit, it’s a treat for the ears, and we ain’t talking fun size either. Full size, all the sugar and all the tastiness its a fun track that nails that arena alternative rock vibe.
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
You know the deal. Five songs that are so damn good that they don’t need all of our blah blah blah getting in the way. Just five words to pique your interest and point the way to pure audio enjoyment. Check out the lates from Scars of Solitude, Person, Play Dead, Tiny Ghosts and Oh Bummer! . .
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
It’s our first Friday 5×5 since returning from our brief blog break and it’s a good’n! Check out songs so good they (mostly) speak for themselves from SubLuminal, BADSOMA, Double Vanity, Jamal Tinkov and Eyal Zusman & Amir Lev. . .
Week Starter is our Monday column where we give you a new song to help you get on out of bed & help you power on through the working week.
As summer comes to an end and another work week, you might need a little extra kick in the pants to push on through. Enter Forty Feet Tall with “On And On And On,” a push-pull of quiet and melodic classic left of the dial college rock parts occasionally body slammed by fuzzed out explosions of bash pop. It grooves, it’s chaotic, it’s glorious. This is the hastily thrown together end of season rager that fights off the autumn.
The Omega to the Week Starter Alpha, Week Ender is the song we want to send you into the weekend with.
Sure, the world is ending but there’s still time for perfect rock n’ roll songs and for laying the apocalypse blame on the appropriate parties. Lucky for us, Jaws The Shark wrapped both of those into one tidy package with “Destroy The World.” Sludgy bass will always have a special place in our heart, and here it is paired with hooks so big, natural and perfect they remind us of the few remaining glaciers. Lyrically it reminds us of the great Jimmy Shubert bit about how every invention throughout history was because a guy was trying to get a girl; but here the focus is on how the baller lifestyle is contributing to our species end date. Sounds heavy, but we assure you it’s a fun rock n’ roll song that is catchy enough to sing as the ship goes down.
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
Today we keep our lips mostly sealed with micro-reviews of five songs so good they speak for themselves. Check out the latest from Melanie MacLaren, Credit Electric, Vangelism, General Admin and Gonzo Lebronzo after the jump. . .
The Midweekly is our column from Mike Jeffers; lead singer of Chicago punk stalwarts SCRAM, music junkie and all around righteous dude.
There’s a rumbling coming from the depths of the alt metal sea. It is a leviathan of an album called Keep This Be The Way, and there is a ship ready to do battle. Helms Alee, hailing from Seattle, is its crew of sludge rockers. KTBTW is the trio’s sixth, and most recent release. Saber sharp guitars, and hammer heavy bass lend the riffs that drone on and reverb out. But the drums, like cannon fire, are what give this record its life. Vocals from all three members will lure you out with dark melodies, then crash you against the rocks when the screaming starts. The pacing journeys from full on metal to folksy ballad. Helms Alee are flying an adventurous flag in this particular genre.
